scholarly journals Internet Addiction among Undergraduate Students: Evidence from a Malaysian Public University

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosliza A.M. ◽  
Ragubathi M.N. ◽  
Mohamad Yusoff M.K.A ◽  
Shaharuddin M.S.

Introduction: Internet addiction is an increasingly worrying phenomena affecting people globally especially the youths. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of internet addiction among undergraduate students in a Malaysian public university and its associated factors. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 322 undergraduate students, identified through cluster sampling was conducted using a pretested, self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire includes socio-demography, use of information technology gadgets and internet usage. Internet Addiction test (IAT) was used to identify internet addiction. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22. Results: From 322 respondents, 25 (7.8%) were categorised as addictive internet users, while 182 (56.5%) were problematic internet users. The commonest online activity includes social networking (86.6%), entertainment (77.3%) and educational purposes (77.0%). From multivariate analysis, problematic and addictive internet use was significantly more common among male students (AOR=2.47, 95% CI [1.43, 4.26]), those who received study loan (AOR=1.93, 95% CI [1.10, 3.39]) and other types of funding (AOR=3.95, 95% CI [1.59, 9.80]) compared to those on scholarships, and those who spent between four to ten hours a day accessing the Internet (AOR=2.43, 95% CI [1.13, 5.23]) compared to those using the Internet for two hours or less a day. Conclusion: The prevalence of problematic and addictive internet use among respondents were higher compared to previous researches among Malaysian adolescents. It is recommended that an awareness programme on responsible use of the internet be conducted to prevent students from becoming addicted which may impact negatively on their educational performance and social life.

Author(s):  
Neha Priya ◽  
Samreen Khan ◽  
Sachin Lal

Background: Internet is a boon and has certainly helped to bring the world closer. It has been a great medium for students to communicate and get information by transforming the academic landscape. However the excessive and undisciplined use of internet by individuals especially in the last decade, has led to the emergence of the concept of internet addiction. Therefore, a cross sectional study has been conducted to investigate the use of internet facility among undergraduate students from Teerthankar Mahaveer University using a validated questionnaire. There were about 42 million active internet users in urban India in 2008 when compared to 5 million in 2000. India now has the world’s third-largest national digital population, with approximately, 159 million Internet users in 2014, which is projected to reach 314 million by 2017 (IMRB 2014). The aim was to study prevalence and pattern of internet usage among undergraduate students in Moradabad. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among medical students (n=382) belonging to all the professionals of medical college, to assess the pattern of internet usage. A semi-structured proforma along with Young’s internet addiction scale was used. Results: Of the 382 adolescents who took part in the study, 150 (39.27%) were female and 232 (60.73%) were males. Their mean age was 16.20 years. Using Young’s original criteria, 22 (5.76%) were found to be addicts, 230 (60.21%) were moderately addicted, 45 (11.78%) were average users while in 85 (22.25%) of student’s internet use was less than average. Most of internet use was for social networking 183(47.9%), downloading media files 125 (32.7%), online gaming 45 (11.8%), academic purposes 10 (2.6%) and others 19 (5%). About 275 (72%) of the students were using smart phones to access the internet. Conclusions: Most of the internet usage was for the purpose of social networking (Facebook, Whats App, Mails, etc). Availability of high speed free wi-fi internet on mobile phones as well as more reliance on virtual friendship than real may be the reason for spending more time on social network websites. 


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Brigo ◽  
Simona Lattanzi ◽  
Giorgia Giussani ◽  
Laura Tassi ◽  
Nicola Pietrafusa ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The Internet has become one of the most important sources of health information, accessed daily by an ever-growing number of both patients and physicians, seeking medical advice and clinical guidance. A deeper insight into the current use of the Web as source of information on epilepsy would help in clarifying the individual attitude towards this medium by Internet users. OBJECTIVE We investigated views towards the Internet in a sample of Italian healthcare specialists involved in epilepsy field, to explore factors which explained the influence of information found on the internet. METHODS This study was a self-administered survey conducted in a group of members of the Italian Chapter of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) in January 2018. RESULTS 184 questionnaires were analyzed. 97.8% of responders reported to seek online information on epilepsy. The Internet was most frequently searched to obtain new information (69.9%) or to confirm a diagnostic or therapeutic decision (37.3%). The influence of consulting the Internet on clinical practice was associated with registration to social network(s) (OR: 2.94; 95%CI: 1.28-6.76; p=0.011), higher frequency of Internet use (OR: 3.66; 95%CI: 1.56-9.21; p=0.006) and higher confidence in reliability of online information (OR: 2.61; 95%CI: 1.09-6.26; p=0.031). No association was found with age, sex, years in epilepsy practice or easiness to find online information. CONCLUSIONS Internet is frequently used among healthcare professionals involved in the epilepsy to obtain information about this disease. The attitude of being influenced by the Internet for diagnostic and/or therapeutic decisions in epilepsy is independent on age and years of experience in epilepsy, and probably reflects an individual approach towards the Web.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089443932199865
Author(s):  
José-María Romero-Rodríguez ◽  
José-Antonio Marín-Marín ◽  
Francisco-Javier Hinojo-Lucena ◽  
Gerardo Gómez-García

The problematic Internet use (PIU) has become a topic of special relevance since it is a problem that affects the whole world. It has been detected that the population at greatest risk is university students along with adolescents. At the same time, Spain is one of the countries with the highest PIU rate. The purposes of this article were to analyze the presence and degree of Internet addiction among university students and to check the sociodemographic factors that influence the PIU. To this end, 13 hypotheses were put forward and contrasted using a structural equation model. The study adopted a cross-sectional approach by applying the Internet addiction test to a sample of undergraduate students in southern Spain ( n = 1,013). The results indicated a prevalence of PIU among students of almost 12.5% and with a moderate degree of addiction. In turn, the following hypotheses that had a significant effect on the PIU were supported: gender; field of knowledge; living in the parents’ home; Internet daily use for leisure; Internet daily use for academic purposes; number of social networks; sexual orientation; marital status. Finally, the main findings of the study were reviewed, and the main recommendations and implications for mitigating the negative effects of technology and enhancing the positive ones were established.


Author(s):  
Priyanka . ◽  
R K Pal

Introduction: Excessive use of the Internet affects the academic achievements of students. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Internet addiction and the pattern of Internet use among undergraduate medical students. Method: This analytical cross-sectional study conducted on 177 undergraduate medical students in batch 2016, 2017 and 2018, who were included in this study by convenience sampling method. The study tool was  Young’s Internet Addiction Test containing questions regarding the pattern of Internet use. Data entry and analysis was done by using Microsoft excel and SPSS version 21. Qualitative data were described in terms of frequency and percentage while quantitative data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. Chi square test and multiple linear regression were used to find out the relationship between various factors and Internet Addiction (IA).  The significance level was considered 0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 20.3 years (± 1.19), and 62 % of the subjects were males. The prevalence rate of Internet Addiction (IA) was found to be 56.5% and 42.9% of them were in mild and 13.6% were in moderate addiction category. Being male (β= -0.143, p=0.038), staying at a hostel (β= 0.167, p=0.018), not having a time preference for using the Internet (β= -0.174, p=0.012), spending more time on the Internet everyday (β= 0.201, p=0.000), being always online (β= 0.276, p=0.000) and more years of using the Internet (β= 0.175, p=0.015) were significantly related with IA in students. Conclusion: A large proportion of medical students were found to be addicted to the Internet. Therefore, this issue should be addressed immediately.


Author(s):  
Ravikiran Kamate ◽  
Sulakshna Baliga ◽  
M. D. Mallapur

Background: Internet addiction is not clinical diagnosis, but a potentially pathological behavioral pattern with symptoms: a loss of control over the behavior, preoccupation with the Internet, using the Internet to modify mood, and withdrawal symptoms. Easy access and low cost of Internet packs- are main cause of development of increased internet use in India. Internet addiction – factors like gender, environmental factors, socioeconomic status, etc. have effect on internet use.Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted during January 2016 to February 2016. Data was collected among 500 engineering students of four engineering colleges of Belagavi city using young's questionnaire. Analysis was performed using SPS 20. Chi-square applied as statistical test of significance for the association between age, sex, residence, SES and schooling. P<0.01 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: The present study revealed that 16.2 and 6.2% of participants had moderate and severe form of internet addiction respectively. With increase in age prevalence of addiction increased. Internet addiction was more among Males when compared to females. Addiction was seen more in students whose both parents were working.Conclusions: Internet addiction is an emerging form of addiction among students with males more than females mostly among engineering students who are dependent on internet for their work, carrier and completion of course Hence it's time to develop comprehensive intervention approach to promote healthy and safe internet use from family, college and peers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1750
Author(s):  
Sowndarya T. A. ◽  
Mounesh Pattar

Background: Adolescents use the Internet for a variety of activities besides gaming; they frequently engage themselves with social networking, instant messaging, blogging and downloading information. Heavy Internet use has been associated with potential side effects, such as loss of control over the use of the Internet, adverse effects on other daily activities, emotional status and communication among family members. Objective of present study to assess the prevalence of Internet Addiction (IA) and factors associated with Internet use among Urban and Rural school students.Methods: A school based cross sectional study was conducted in the urban and rural field practice area of a medical college hospital in Mangaluru. Internet addiction was assessed using Young’s Internet Addiction Test.Results: The prevalence of internet addiction among urban school students was found to be i.e. 83.3%, while it was 78% in rural school students. Mild IA was common among both.  Male gender, smart phones and hours spent on internet were common risk factor for IA in both groups.Conclusions: Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) is a simple and easy tool to assess Internet addiction among adolescent school students. Need to give importance of outdoor activity and community level education needed to prevent Internet Addiction.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Stodt ◽  
Elisa Wegmann ◽  
Matthias Brand

Internet addiction (IA) and cyberbullying (CB) represent two examples of dysfunctional Internet use (DIU) which are accompanied by negative consequences. In terms of prevention, the training of technical and reflective skills (Internet literacy) will be discussed with regard to these patterns. This study investigates the role of age, conscientiousness, and Internet literacy on IA symptoms and the participation in CB. Analyses reveal that positive attitudes towards online production and interaction and lower self-regulative skills can be associated with severe IA symptoms. Cyberbullies display less skills in reflecting on Internet content and also prove to have less self-regulative skills. Younger and less conscientious individuals are more likely to use the Internet dysfunctionally. Furthermore, significant correlations between experiences as a cyberbully and IA symptoms were found. In conclusion, the authors suggest that current media/Internet literacy curricula should be complemented by teaching reflective and regulative skills to prevent Internet users from negative consequences.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Stodt ◽  
Elisa Wegmann ◽  
Matthias Brand

Internet addiction (IA) and cyberbullying (CB) represent two examples of dysfunctional Internet use (DIU) which are accompanied by negative consequences. In terms of prevention, the training of technical and reflective skills (Internet literacy) will be discussed with regard to these patterns. This study investigates the role of age, conscientiousness, and Internet literacy on IA symptoms and the participation in CB. Analyses reveal that positive attitudes towards online production and interaction and lower self-regulative skills can be associated with severe IA symptoms. Cyberbullies display less skills in reflecting on Internet content and also prove to have less self-regulative skills. Younger and less conscientious individuals are more likely to use the Internet dysfunctionally. Furthermore, significant correlations between experiences as a cyberbully and IA symptoms were found. In conclusion, the authors suggest that current media/Internet literacy curricula should be complemented by teaching reflective and regulative skills to prevent Internet users from negative consequences.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nebiyu Mengistu ◽  
Desalegn Tarekegn ◽  
Wondwosen Molla ◽  
Seid Shumye

Abstract Background: Internet addiction is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupation, urges or behavior regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress. Globally, it has been found that the occurrence rate of internet addiction among university students ranges from 0.8% to 47.7%. Despite, there are multiple challenges that related with internet addiction which remains under-recognized and largely ignored by stakeholders and also not well known especially in low income countries including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was conducted aimed to assess the magnitude of the internet addiction and its associated factors among undergraduate students. Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study was employed from May 1st to June 1st 2019. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to get a total of 846 undergraduate Students. Data was collected by using self-administered structured questionnaires of Young’s Internet Addiction Test. The collected data was coded and entered into EPIDATA 3.1 and analyzed by using SPSS version 22, Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with internet addiction and statistically significant was considered at P-value <0.05. Results: A total of 846 study participants, giving a response rate were 761 (90%) and the prevalence of internet addiction was 19.4%. Multiple logistic regression model revealed that being male [AOR=1.69, 95% CI: (1.80, 6.41)], probable depression [AOR =3.61, 95% CI (2.40, 5.43)] and khat or caffeinated drinks [AOR=1.86, 95%CI: (1.21, 2.87)] were significantly associated with internet addiction.Conclusion: This study revealed that a high prevalence of internet addiction among Dilla university students and there were various factors associated with increased prevalence of problematic internet use. Therefore, students need to be educated about safe, valuable, and healthy practice of internet use and better to counsel on substance use and its consequences and also psychiatric evaluation (referring for mental health services) to overcome the anticipated increase in internet addiction


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mintesnot Hawaze Derseh ◽  
Kassahun Dessie Gashu ◽  
Tekeba Meshesha ◽  
Baye Ashenafi ◽  
Abebe Getachew Wolde ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Utilization of Internet is critical to retrieve health information particularly for countries where health care delivery system is incongruent with its population otherwise it could be difficult to address all health problems of the people with limited health professionals. This study sought to determine the magnitude of the Internet use for health information and its associated factors.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the status of Internet utilization to access health information and its associated factors among the undergraduate students in Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted among 845 undergraduate students who were selected by Stratified multi-stage sampling from 19 randomly selected departments of Addis Ababa University. Data were collected from March to April 2019 using a pretested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. The data were entered in to Epi-Info version 7 and exported to the SPSS version 23 for analysis. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the association between the study and outcome variables. Result: Almost all 761 (98.8%) of the University students have ever used the Internet for general purposes. Among these the proportion of Internet use, about 59.1% (95% CI: 55.5-62.7) of them used the Internet for health information. Adjusting for all other factors in the final model, Digital health literacy (AOR=1.656, 95% CI: (1.143, 2.397), field of study (AOR= 0.025, 95% CI: (0.007, 0.087), year of study (AOR= 1.609, 95% CI: (1.130, 2.290), and computer device ownership (AOR= 2.314, 95% CI: (1.392, 3.844) were found to be significantly associated with the Internet use for health information.Conclusion: The proportion of Internet use for health information was found to be lower. Digital health literacy, being health science student, year of study and computer ownership were found to be important predictors.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document